Last month's thread is here. October was an exciting month in the UFC thread as we saw the Conor McGregor train get derailed, again, and also were exposed to possibly the most comical clutching at pearls by a sports journalist this decade. Please enjoy courtesy of Independent.ie’s Joe Brolly:

October brought some exciting fights and amazing finishes and absolute chaos which all of us poo poo eating wildmen & wildwomen enjoyed. First up was UFC 229: Khabib vs McGregor wherein we may have seen the best card of 2018 presented. On the build up to the main event we saw some great fights and finishes.

In a Heavyweight bout, Derrick Lewis disposed of Alexander Volkov with a come from behind KO. For nearly five full rounds Lewis was getting picked apart by Volkov. However in the final 20 seconds of the fight, Da Black Beast broke Drago and laid him to rest with an impressive finish.

Following that, Anthony Pettis & Tony Ferguson faced off in a co-main event bout that saw the two former Lightweight champions showcase their eye-catching arsenal of strikes and creativity. We got to see Pettis finally let loose and have fun int he cage, something we hadn’t seen in a long time. However after 2 rounds Pettis was unable to answer the call for the third round and Ferguson was awarded the TKO victory lining himself up as the next likely challenger for the Lightweight Championship.

In the main event we saw UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagamedov and Conor McGregor square off in a huge marquee fight. Surprising many, Conor’s striking did little to phase Khabib and “The Eagle” even landed a clean knockdown punch of his own while also utilizing his wrestling to give McGregor no space to work.

Later into the fight, Khabib’s wrestling paid off as he secured a crank that forced McGregor to tap. With the fight over however, chaos erupted. Khabib got verbal with McGregor’s team, prompting the Dagestani to jump the fence and start swinging on Dillon Danis (Conor’s wrestling coach) of all people. Allegedly, Danis was instigating the whole thing by trash talking Khabib the whole fight. Then, as a result, Conor swung on one of Khabib’s teammates, causing another teammate to jump into the cage where McGregor was and attack him from behind. One of these members of Khabib’s fight team was Zubaira Tukhamegov who, coincidentally, was set to fight McGregor’s friend, and one of the parties that caused the UFC 223 bus attack to happen, Artem Lobov at UFC Fight Night: Volkan vs Smith. Then McGregor was led out of the arena, while Khabib protested he have his belt ceremoniously placed on him. Dana White opted not to, fearing that a riot would take place and poor Bruce Buffer was left alone in the ring to announce the submission to a chorus of boos, followed by a Motel 6 ad. This is real life, and not a soap opera but boy it really could be one if we wanted it to be.

Later in the month the UFC traveled to The Kickin’ Rad City (their actual motto) Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada for UFC Fight Night: Volkan vs Smith. While most of us were still reeling from the absurdity of UFC 229’s final moments, we were able to enjoy a Fight Night Card that thankfully did not give us any further PTSD. Anthony Smith derailed Volkan further via a third round submission and Michael Johnson filled in as a late replacement to face Artem "Home Alone" Lobov after Artems original opponent was "cut" by the UFC due to their involvement in the UFC 229 fiasco. Johnson beat Lobov via decision and we wondered why what it'd take for a 13-15 fighter to be cut.

UFC events in November

November will be a busy month as UFC have booked fights for each and every weekend. This month also celebrates the UFC’s 25th anniversary which will be highlighted with a UFC Fight Night in Denver, Colorado the original home of the Octagon.

We begin the month on November 3rd in New York City for UFC 230 which looks to be a stacked card. Featured on the night’s list is a trio of Middleweight contender fights. First is Derek Brunson facing off against Israel Adesanya, as well as Ronaldo Souza taking on Chris Weidman. The Weidman/Souza booking comes to us courtesy of AKA Health Insurance which saw to it that Luke Rockhold’s knee would not make it out of training camp. With Rockhold injured just a few weeks out, the UFC put together the bout. Ronaldo Souza was last seen losing to Welterweight Kelvin Gastelum in a split decision. We last saw Chris Weidman defeating Gastelum in a decision victory, but missed out on a chance to regain his MW title due to Gastelum putting away Souza and Bisping back to back and earning the shot. Weidman believes a win clearly puts him next in line. In addition we have a Heavyweight title bout between reigning champion Daniel “Double Champ” Cormier and Da Black Beast, Derrick Lewis who is making a quick turnaround after his showing at UFC 229. UFC 230 was supposed to feature the long awaited return of Nate Diaz but Lady Luck decided to not be kind to us and the bout was cancelled after his opponent, Dustin Poirier, was pulled from the card due to injury. Cormier was supposed to fight Lesnar but it appears the UFC isn’t interested in having their champion sit on the shelf six months until Lesnar is available to fight.

A week later the UFC travels to Denver, Colorado for UFC Fight Night: Rodriguex vs Korean Zombie on November 10th. The fight commemorates the 25th anniversary of the UFC’s birth back in 1993. On the card we will see Flyweights Joseph Benavidez and Ray Borg face off. Benavidez was the last man to defeat current Flyweight champion Henry Cejudo but his momentum was disrupted via a decision loss to Sergio Pettis. Ray Borg is back after his last bout wherein he lost a title fight to Demetrius Johnson at UFC 216. Borg was sidelined earlier this year due to the ill-fated UFC 223 Bus Attack by Conor McGregor and suffered cuts to his eye from the broken glass. In a Welterweight contest, former training partners Mike Perry and Donald Cerrone take each other on for the sanctity of Jackson-Winklejohn MMA. Cerrone is fighting for the old-school loyalty, while Perry is fighting for the new-school money making ventures. For more info on this, check out Cerrone’s most recent Joe Rogan Experience appearance, he goes into a lot of detail as well as admits to drug trafficking accidentally. In the main event former Featherweight title challenges Frankie Edgar and Chan Sung Jung were supposed to be squaring off to cap off the evening of fights. However the UFC curse struck and Edgar was pulled from the card in late October, with Yair Rodriguez replacing him.

Then on November 17th the UFC heads south to Argentina for the first time to host UFC Fight Night: Magny vs Ponzinibbio. The main event features Welterweights Neil Magny and Santiago Ponzinibbio squaring off. Khalil Rountree Jr. & Johnny Walker (the fighter not the whiskey), serve as a Light-Heavyweight Co-Main Event.

Following that on November 25th, the Octagon returns to China but visits the capital Beijing for the first time with UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs Ngannou 2. The main event features former Heavyweight title challenger Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes. The two faced off previously at UFC Fight Night: Dos Santos vs Rothwell in 2016 where Ngannou won by TKO. Since then Blaydes has won 5 of his last 6, with a NC ( test failure) thrown in. Also on the card is a crop of Chinese fighters representing their country against similarly ranked UFC talent.

Two days laters on November 27th the UFC travels to Las Vegas for the final event of the month with The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters Finale with a couple of interesting fights on the card alongside the main TUF bouts. Primarily in the main event is a Welterweight showdown between top contenders Rafael Dos Anjos and Kamaru Usman. Dos Anjos is coming off a loss to Colby Covington for the Interim Welterweight Championship. Usman has been riding an 11 fight win streak and back at UFC 228 was penciled in as a backup for the championship bout.

UFC News

Following the pandemonium at UFC 229, Conor McGregor has demanded a rematch which caused us all to have a good laugh until someone mentioned he is serious and then we felt pretty terrible about the prospect of watching a Dagestani Muslim murder an Irish Catholic for our enjoyment.

UFC announced that Jon Jones’ first opponent after his 15 month suspension by USADA for “not knowingly taking PEDs” (for the 2nd time), will be none other than Alexander Gustafsson. The bout is due to take place at UFC 232, serving as the Main Event. Jones/Gustafsson 2 will also be for the LHW Title as the UFC have opted to strip Daniel Cormier of his LHW title due to Cormier focusing more on HW title bouts for the foreseeable future. For a reminder of the comedy that has been Jones’ recent time as a UFC LHW Champion review this handy picture.

Eddie Alvarez, whose UFC contract expired, has now signed with ONE Championship based out of Asia. This is the biggest free-agent signing to the B-League promotion as of late.

Zubaira Tukhamegov’s involvement in the UFC 229 brawl resulted in his dismissal/firing from the UFC. In turn 50 Cent offered both Zubaira and Khabib to come fight for his new beau, Bellator, who he is just throwing millions of dollars at for the fun of it or something.

The UFC and Asia based ONE Championship have agreed to the first, if not one of the most high profile, fighter trade in MMA history. The deal saw the UFC trade their contract for former UFC Flyweight champion, Demetrius Johnson, in order to gain ONE Championship’s contract containing former Bellator and ONE Welterweight Champion Ben Askren. This has begun the Pokemon Trading Card Game era of Mixed Martial Arts. This arguably eclipses the earlier ONE Championship acquisition of Eddie Alvarez, and could see ONE gain more of a US following as they have a very secure position in the Asia market ranging from Korea all the way down to Thailand. It is stated that Demetrius Johnson is making more than eight figures, higher than the recently signed Eddie Alvarez, per Johnson’s manager.

Your Current ChampionsMen's Heavyweight Champion - Daniel Cormier (21-1-(1))
Starting his career as a Heavyweight, Daniel Cormier went 13 fights in the division undefeated. When he moved down to Light Heavyweight many thought he would never return to the division nor ever get the chance to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion due to his friendship with former Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez. That all changed when the opportunity for a superfight presented itself with Cormier stepping back into the Heavyweight ranks to take on the UFC’s longest reigning champion, Stipe Miocic at UFC 226. The stars aligned for Cormier, as well as getting a little bit of help from a few errant eye pokes, as he knocked out Miocic and become the UFC’s second person ever to hold two division titles at the same time. Following his win DC faced off a returning Brock Lesnar in a post fight trash talk session inside the cage and the two seem to be destined to fight. This will have to take place before Cormier’s previously announced retirement date of March 20, 2019. Lesnar will also be undergoing 6 months of USADA testing, which puts his earliest fight date at around January 2019, just a few weeks from Cormier’s intended retirement day.

Men's Light Heavyweight Champion - Daniel Cormier (21-1-(1))
Daniel Cormier won the belt initially in May of 2015 against the heavy-hitting Anthony Johnson by rear-naked choke in the third round. Cormier defended his belt against Alexander Gustafson in October of 2015 in a split decision. A planned rematch against Jon Jones was scheduled for UFC 200, which was called off after Jones tested positive for post-cycle therapy drugs. Cormier went on to fight Anderson Silva in a non-title bout on three days' notice. Cormier was slated to fight Anthony Johnson in a rematch for the belt in December, a match which did not took place due to Cormier suffering a groin adductor injury. The bout took place at UFC 210 in April, with Cormier defending the belt in under two rounds and Johnson riding off into the sunset with a surprise retirement. The rematch against Jon Jones finally took place at UFC 215 and saw Jones KO Cormier in the third round. Then Jones tested positive for Soviet-era steroids, and the CSAC overturned the fight result to a No Contest. The UFC dutifully stripped Jones of the championship, again, and it is now back around the waist of Cool MMA Dad Daniel Cormier. DC showed the world that there are indeed levels to this game, and defended easily against Volkan Oezdimir at UFC 220 in January. Then at UFC 226 Cormier cemented his legacy by knocking out UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic to become the second ever person to hold two weight division belts at the same time. Cormier then proceeded to call out former UFC Heavyweight Champion and the WWE’s Universal Champion Brock Lesnar who was in the audience. The two exchanged words and a bit of shoving on Lesnars part and it is pretty clear this will be the next Heavyweight fight for Cormier provided Lesnar passes his 6 months of USADA testing. With Jon Jones now back on the active roster, it was announced that he would face off against Alexander Gustafsson in a Light Heavyweight Championship bout, meaning Cormier will be stripped. This will give Jones a third attempt at not loving up his reign as LHW Champion. However, should Cormier lose his Heavyweight title fight against Derrick Lewis, he could possibly remain the LHW champion and the Jones/Gustafsson rematch would serve as a title eliminator.

Men's Middleweight Champion - Robert Whittaker (19-4)
Whittaker rode a seven-fight winning streak, including shutting down the deadly takedowns of Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza to slot himself into an Interim Middleweight championship match against Yoel "Soldier of God" Romero. The canny Australian showed incredible heart in taking it to the Cuban Olympic silver medalist over five rounds, and even with a severe knee injury coming in the first he managed to outpoint his opponent to take the unanimous decision. With Georges St-Pierre vacating the Middleweight championship in early December 2017, Whittaker has now been promoted to Undisputed Middleweight Champion. After a layoff to get his health back together, Whittaker took on Yoel Romero at UFC 225 in another great showdown between the two with Whittaker again taking the victory and continuing his reign as MW king. Currently Whittaker is nursing an arm injury and served as coach for The Ultimate Fighter 28 against his next opponent, Kelvin Gastellum.

Men's Welterweight Champion - Tyron Woodley (18-3-1)
Woodley was promised a title shot against the Welterweight champion 17 months before the fight took place. After Robbie Lawler put in Fight Of The Year performances against Rory MacDonald in July 2015 and Carlos Condit in January 2016, Woodley went into their fight in July of 2016 as a significant underdog. This meant nothing, with Lawler going down to strikes in the first round. Woodley defended his belt against Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, putting on an incredible fight that ended in a majority draw at UFC 205 in New York in November 2016. A rematch for this fight was held in March month at UFC 209, with Woodley again the winner in a stilted affair. He defended the title again at UFC 214 in late July 2017 against Demian Maia, following a conservative but sharp gameplan that saw him stop all 22 of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace's takedown attempts. It was announced that at UFC 228 on September 8th, 2018, and on that night Woodley not only derailed the Dareen Till train, he did it within two rounds and then dropped a rap song the week after. It is now believed that Woodley will face fellow ATT fighter (presuming Woodley is still affiliated with ATT) & rival Colby Covington at an unknown date. Enjoy the rap styles of Tyron “TWooodley” Woodly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOyj8_XSYlY

Men's Lightweight Champion - Khabib Nurmagomedov (27-0)
Finally, it's Khabib Time. After going 16-0 in regional promotions in Russia and The Ukraine, Khabib signed a deal with the UFC in late 2011. He then went on a near-unprecedented tear in the promotion, racking up a 9-fight UFC winning streak, including setting the record for the most takedowns in a single UFC fight with 21 against Abel Trujillo. While he seemed to have some issues with his weight, coming in heavy a few times and pulling out of a bout, and had recurring issues with his knees, causing the cancellation of more than one fight, it seemed like only time would be the barrier betewen him and a Lightweight title shot. Finally in 2018, the fight was booke for UFC 223 against Tony Ferguson. The week of the fight it seemed that literally nothing could go right, and after Ferguson seriously injured his left knee at a press event, and the late replacement Max Holloway was pulled out with 36 hours to go via a NYSAC ruling that he "didn't look good" , finally it was settled that Al Iaquinta would be Nurmagomedov's victimopponent for the bout. Iaquinta weighed in at 155.2, over the championship limit, and as such was ineligible to win the title. That distinction ended up being purely academic, with Nurmagomedov turning in a 50-44, 50-43, 50-43 performance to finally wrap the belt around his waist. At the UFC 25th anniversary press conference, it was announced Conor McGregor would be Nurmagomedov’s first opponent as champion. The bout went down at UFC 229 and, surprising some, Khabib dropped McGregor early in the fight but unsurprisingly relied on his wrestling to keep the Irishman down before submitting him with a crank. Post-fight however, chaos erupted as both teams got into various brawls. With Tony Ferguson getting an impressive victory over Anthony Pettis, many are awaiting the results of November’s Diaz/Poirier matchup to see who is likely next for Khabib.

Men's Featherweight Champion - Max Holloway (19-3)
Holloway put together a 9-fight win streak, with several Performance of the Night bonuses, before answering the call to contend for the Interim Featherweight Championship at UFC 206 in December 2016. Taking out Anthony Pettis with a body kick and punches late in the third round, he set himself up for a unification bout against Jose Aldo at UFC 212. At that event in early June 2017, he defeated Aldo in the third round with focused ground and pound, and unified the belts. Frankie Edgar was announced as Holloway's first defense, but with Edgar out with a broken face, the rematch with Jose Aldo Jr took place at UFC 218 in early December 2017. It was a carbon copy of the first match, with Aldo unable to weather the combinations of The Blessed One, this time being stopped in the third round. Holloway was again scheduled to defend against Frankie Edgar in March 2018, however a leg injury to the champion has forced that fight to the co-main with Brian Ortega stepping in. Travesty struck once again as Holloway had to pull out of UFC 226 with “concussion like symptoms.” An Ortega vs Holloway title fight is among the rumored fights for UFC 231.

Men's Bantamweight Champion - TJ Dillashaw (18-3)
When he was announced as the coach on The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption against then-champion Cody Garbrandt, the outcome was planned to be a fight between the two for Garbrandt's Bantamweight championship. While the fight between the two was originally announced for July 8 2017 at UFC 213, Garbrandt dropped out with a back injury during May, and it was re-booked for UFC 217 in November. Dillashaw started a slight underdog, but got the job done in the second round with a solid right hook and follow up ground and pound. With his second title reign starting, Dillashaw's shut down Garbrandt again this time in one round. Following his win, Dillashaw accepted the challenge the newly crowned Henry Cejudo threw his way for a Champion vs Champion bout.

Men's Flyweight Champion - Henry Cejudo (13-2)
Two years is what it took for Henry Cejudo to claw his way back to a title shot against the man who gave him his first professional defeat. Over that two year span Cejudo changed his style of fighting up in various ways, and worked hard to show why he could and should be the man to dethrone the UFC’s longest reigning champion. Cejudo’s second fight against Demetrius Johnson did not go as many expected it to. Many assumed Cejudo would get outstruck by Johnson early, but The Messenger was able to take the champion to a decision utilizing his wrestling which some argued Cejudo used more to stall and less to offer offense. Regardless the judges gave the nod to former Olympian who quickly took his first moments as champion to call out the winner of the UFC Bantamweight fight. No opponent or date have been announced.

Women's Featherweight Champion - Cristiana Justino (20–1 (1))
With the vacating of this championship by Germaine de Randamie in May 2017, a match was set up for UFC 214 between Justino and Megan Anderson. Anderson pulled out of the fight in late June, and was replaced by current Invicta FC Bantamweight Champion Tonya Evinger. The significantly larger fighter on the day, Justino dominated a one-sided affair and won the fight in the third round with brutal knee strikes. Justino defended her championship against Holly Holm at UFC 219 in December 2017, again being the much larger fighter and keeping Holm at bay to take a comprehensive decision victory. Justino made her next defense against promotional newcomer Yana Kunitskaya in March 2018, flattening another promotional newcomer and Featherweight debutant in a very one-sided matchup. UFC announced Justino will in fact take on Amanda Nunes in the first ever Women’s Champion vs Champion superfight at UFC 232.

Women's Bantamweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (16-4)
Nunes headlined UFC 200 in July of 2016, putting a vicious beating on Miesha Tate and securing a rear-nake choke victory in a little over three minutes. She backed this up with a brutal 48-second TKO victory against former Women's Bantamweight Champion and WMMA pioneer Ronda Rousey in late December 2016. Nunes was slated to take on Valentina Shevchenko in a rematch of their March 2016 fight, with that match being moved to UFC 215 in September 2017. Nunes retained by a razor-thin split decision. Her next fight was against Raquel Pennington at UFC 224. Nunes spent four rounds mauling Pennington, then pounded out a clearly already finished Pennington in the fifth, to retain her Championship. Nunes has been scheduled to move up to 145lbs to face Cyborg for the Featherweight championship at UFC 232.

Women’s Flyweight Champion - Vacant
The UFC’s Women’s Flyweight title is currently vacant after Nicco Montaño failed to make it to the weigh-ins at UFC 228, citing a need to visit the hospital. This, in turn, left her bout with Valentina Shevchenko nullified. Having not fought in roughly 9 months, the UFC decided Montaño was no longer the champion of the division that they just made 10 months ago and instead opted to vacate the title. As a result of this, Shevchenko has picked up a new challenger for the title in Former Champion Joanna (Jędrzejczyk) to take place later in 2018 at UFC 231 in December.

Women's Strawweight Champion - Rose Namajunas (11-3)
After cleaning out the Women's Strawweight division, Joanna Jędrzejczyk seemed to have no more mountains to conquer. After beating Michelle Waterson by rear-naked choke in April 2017, Namajunas was announced as the next contender for want of any other new challengers. In a massive upset, Namajunas beat Jędrzejczyk by TKO in the first round of their championship fight at UFC 217. A rematch for this fight took place at UFC 223 in April 2018, and while it took longer to decide the result was the same, with Namajunas taking a solid unanimous decision over the former champion. No title defense is scheduled at this stage though many feel Jessica Andrade’s vicious KO over Karolina Kowalkiewicz earned her a spot at “Thug.”

Other poo poo

Go to the MMA's Best and Worst, 2018 Editionthread administered by Fentry to refresh your memory on what has been considered by your fellow PSP-MMA posters as the best (and worst) of the MMA world this year. Nominations for hilarious and/or awesome things are always appreciated.

The Goonweight Grand Prix is back for Season 25 managed by MassRafTer. Make predictions and talk about how bad you are at comprehending this sport. This is a fun way to get even more worked up about half naked men rolling around in blood and Vaseline on a Saturday night.

If you’re itching for some UFC or even Z-League content check out the UFC Fight Pass thread UFC Fight Pass Thread - Earning Your 3rd Degree Blackbelt In MMA Posting. This thread is being updated approximately every week by me with information on new and upcoming additions to the streaming service, random fight cards like Quintet (it’s really good!), Glory SuperfightSeries, Eddie Bravo Invitational, and is also good for general banter about old fights. UFC is about to launch their own “30 for 30” style documentary series with 25 different documentaries to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the UFC.

November’s UFC Fight Pass Fight Of the Month is Nate Diaz vs Conor McGregor at UFC 196. I realize this is a month with no Nate Diaz on it, but I made this ahead of time and at the time of posting can't get to UFC Fight Pass to pick up a new video so just enjoy that fight once again.

Shout out to DumbWhiteGuy for providing details for the MMA IRC channel.

irc.synirc.net #mma

Join your fellow MMA fans in discussing all things MMA in a place probably secure against nuclear armageddon - IRC has been around for so long I'm not convinced anything could kill it. Except maybe being forced to drink Proper No. 12 Whiskey.

As usual if there’s any mistakes please let me know and I’ll fix it as soon as I can.

Her next fight was against Raquel Pennington at UFC 224, which was held this month in Rio de Janeiro. Nunes spent four rounds mauling Pennington, then pounded out a clearly already finished Pennington in the fifth, to retain her Championship.

A few months have passed by since 'this month' (which I think was in May?).

unless i'm very much mistaken dc's wrestling is on a vastly different level from anyone lewis has fought before. i would tip curtis blaydes to beat lewis. even if he does just stand up, he's got only a couple of minutes work in him until he doesn't just stand up. even if he was on a full camp it would only be a matter of time, but he isn't, and dc pushes an exceptional pace by lhw standards and a mythical pace by derrick lewis standards.

Roy Nelson was 7/10 on takedowns and he still lost a decision to Lewis

i remember that fight now. it was awful.

i honestly thought tbb was a relatively new guy on the scene and if you'd asked me when he got in the ufc i'd have said like, late 2016. nah. he's been in the ufc since 2014 and has an L to fat shitrione and loving shawn jordan by hook kick ko which i'm having trouble imagining.

im envisioning dc choking lewis out with an rnc in the second ala rumble but honestly i think lewis will be so loving tired it might actually be easier for dc to just throw a couple of half assed punches at to the side of lewis's unmoving head giving the ref and excuse to stop the fight and commence rehydration / defibrillator

i honestly thought tbb was a relatively new guy on the scene and if you'd asked me when he got in the ufc i'd have said like, late 2016. nah. he's been in the ufc since 2014 and has an L to fat shitrione and loving shawn jordan by hook kick ko which i'm having trouble imagining.

fun fact: Mr Nice and I have seen both Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou's UFC debuts

They’re nowhere near getting 150 signatures to support unionization and fighters are even more hesitant to anonymously sign a card since Leslie Smith and Kajan Johnson were released from the UFC. Think I’m with Luke Thomas in being tired of fighters bitching about the UFC when they refuse to work together to do anything about it.